Random musings by people who think about educational psychology and the practice of instructional design

October 21, 2015

Embracing Failure

by Shiela Hwe, Pharm.D., PGY1
Community Pharmacy Resident, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

When was
the last time someone described a failure as a good thing?

In
today’s society there is such a heavy focus on results and quantifying
success, that the process of learning often gets ignored. For business owners,
the end goal is to earn money. For most students, the measure of success is
earning an A in every course.

Carol
Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, has focused much of her research on how a
person’s personal view of their personality and intelligence influences motivation.
In her research, she describes a person with a “fixed mindset” as someone who
assumes that our abilities are innate and unchanging, and success is the confirmation
of intelligence.1 The incremental theory describes a person with a
“growth mindset” as one who believes that intelligence can be developed, and that
failure is necessary and a motivator to improve.1 (See Table 1)Although “successful” students can can have
either a fixed or growth mindset, their personal model influences how they
respond to failures.2

Table 1. Characteristics of Fixed
and Growth Mindsets.

Fixed Mindset

Growth Mindset

Avoids challenges

Embraces challenges

Gives up easily

Persistent
in the face of setbacks

See effort as fruitless or
worse

See effort as the path to mastery

Ignore useful negative
feedback

Learn
from criticism

Feel threatened by the success
of others

Find lessons and inspirations in the success of others

When I
first stumbled on Dr. Dweck’s research, I found it fascinating. I grew up in a
household where education was the number one priority and hard work was the way
to achieve success. Failing meant receiving a letter grade that was anything
less than an A. The concept of a fixed or growth mindset is relevant to
learners of all ages.There are students
who aren’t “challenged” until high school, college, or even graduate school. Personally,
I skated through school without much effort. It was not until graduate school
when I found myself studying harder and receiving lower grades. I was at a
crossroads. I could have adopted a fixed
mindset - the grades I was receiving were an indicator that I was “failing.”
(Remember, anything less than an “A” is perceived as a failure!).Fortunately, I adopted a growth mindset.I learned that my grades were an indicator that
I needed to re-evaluate my study methods.

The
incremental theory sounds great but is there proof that people who adopt a
growth mindset are more successful?In a
five-year study, Dweck followed seventh and eighth grade students enrolled in mathematics
courses. Once entering the study, students filled out a questionnaire used to
classify them as having either a “fixed” or “growth” mindset. Achievement
outcomes were based on a combination of exam scores, class participation, and
homework. The results showed that students with a “growth mindset” were more
likely to believe that working hard was “necessary and effective in achievement”
and were less likely to “attribute a potential failure to lack of ability.”2
Two years later, students who had expressed a higher “growth mindset” were
outperforming those that believed intelligence was static.2

In a
follow-up interventional study, half
of the students were taught the incremental theory – in other words, how one’s mindset
impacts performance.The goal was to
observe whether this intervention had an effect on motivation. Teachers
reported improvements in classroom motivation and previously declining
mathematics grades were halted.2 This study showed that changing the
beliefs of students about their intelligence helped stimulate enthusiasm and
also enhanced academic performance.2

Although
these studies focused on elementary school children, the same principles can be
applied to adults. In a 2003 study, 128 pre-med Columbia University students
taking a General Chemistry course were evaluated based on learning goals.
Students with active learning goals (growth mindset) exhibited greater
motivation, achieved higher grades, and demonstrated greater improvement over
time.3 When faced with a challenging course in which they struggled,
students with a growth mindset performed better than those with a fixed mindset.3However, regardless of their mindset,
students who did not struggle with the subject matter excelled in the class.3Thus mindset seems to be most important when
faced with failure.

The good
news is that mindsets is not permanent!Teachers can take steps to help learners view “failure” in a positive
light. Here are 5 tips to encourage students to embrace failures:1,2,3,4,5

Teach your students about
incremental theory. Studies have
shown that students who believe that intelligence is not stagnant, and failure
is just a stepping-stone to success generally have more motivation and perform
better when faced with difficult situations.

Praise wisely. Praising
intelligence or only the outcome orients your learner to a fixed mindset, and
encourages the need for constant reassurance. Rather than telling students how
smart they are or how well they performed, praise the process. Praise your
learner’s persistence and effort too.

Encourage independent learning. Particularly
in experiential education, allow the students to have independence and autonomy
to make mistakes and be accountable.This will service as motivation for continued learning.

Take the most common errors and
analyze them together, as a class. By
utilizing social cognitive theory to engage your class as a whole, students can
identify what problems they are experiencing, and also observe what other
students are doing to fix these problems. This also helps the learner feel they
are not the only ones having problems, and encourages them to improve with the
class.

Be specific when identifying
mistakes. Rather
than pointing out that your learner answered 5/10 questions incorrectly,
discuss what caused these errors. By being able to pinpoint where in the
process the mistake happened, students can focus their efforts there the next
time.

When we are working with learners, regardless of age, it is important to instill the
idea of a “growth mindset.” By teaching your
students to process errors or “failures” in a way that leads to improvements in
the future, you are setting your learners up to view failures as learning
opportunities, and to be equipped with the attitude that promotes learning for
life.

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